53

Today we had a tiny bit more of Ancient Greece, because I got a great book from the library about Eratosthenes: The Librarian Who Measured the Earth by Kathryn Lasky. I read "Rumplestiltskin" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book, and E narrated part of it. Then we read Who Were the Romans? by Phil Roxbee Cox, taking a break midway through (it's a thin book, but packed) for E to do math and T to watch Peep. Then we read about Venus in the book by Larry Dane Brimner, and to kick off our study of the composition of the earth, we read The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth by Joanna Cole and How to Dig a Hole to the Other Side of the World by Faith McNulty. Then we set up experiment 18 "Grow a Stalactite" from Neil Ardley's 101 Great Science Experiments (and the fact that the book plainly states that it will take several days for the stalactites to grow has not stopped any of us--me included--from checking it several times an hour). E made a thank you card for our neighbors who gave us all the great Let's Read and Find Out Science books, and did a TINY bit of weaving on her round mat, now destined to be a Christmas present for Grandma and Grandpa.

Heracles, Jason, & Anonymous Argonaut Fight Harpies

E gave this to me today. She said that she started off making a sunrise, but didn't like how it was turning out, so she made two more and made them into harpies. The two flying guys are the sons of the North Wind. You can see the plate of food as bait for the harpies on the ground. I like the big smiles on the heroes' faces--nothing like a good harpy fight to make you glad you're alive!

51--Ancient Greece party!

Today after E's piano lesson we had our end-of-Ancient-Greece party: Grandma and Grandpa came over to see E's work, and we had our own little Olympic Games with pipe-cleaner-and-craft-foam laurel wreaths for all. Then we went to a Greek restaurant for lunch and then to the library.

51

Today E narrated the capture of the Golden Fleece from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children, and we read the rest of the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I also read the story of The Brave 300 from Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories Retold and Alexander the Great by Andrew Langley. E did her math and now she's painting her Greek vase that she made the other day. She's almost finished with her weaving, and tonight when I'm in a better mood (hopefully) I'll make him a simple chiton and her a peplos out of some old sheets, based on instructions in Linda Honan's Spend the Day in Ancient Greece. And then we'll be all set for our Olympic Games tomorrow! Oh, except for the water clock--I guess we'd better make that after E's done with the vase, so we can use it in one of the competitions.

50

Yesterday we read about Jason and the Argonauts in Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children, and about Theseus and the Minotaur, and Oedipus in the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. Then I read A Greek Theater by Peter Chrisp, and E did her math while T watched Peep. Then we went to Dance and Tumbling.

48,49

Yesterday after her piano lesson, E went to her zoo class. Then we had a great Halloween party! Today we saw Peter and the Wolf at the Children's Theatre--it was a charming production and T was very scared by the wolf and very proud for Peter. E narrated "The Man-Eating Horses" labor of Heracles from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children, then I read "The Amazon Queen's Belt" and "The Cattle of Geryon". We also read about Theseus and the Minotaur, Pygmalion and Galatea, and Eros and Psyche. Then in the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths I read about King Midas, Sisyphus, and Bellerophon. E did her math, and worked on her mat. We tried making a Greek pot, from Laurie Carlson's Classical Kids, but somehow it kept collapsing, so Alan said he'd give it a go with her tonight. And she asked me to read Aristotle and Scientific Thought by Steve Parker.

47

A short day today--we're busy getting ready for the party! E narrated "The Great Bull of Crete" in Heather Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children, and I read the rest of Odysseus' adventures from that book. Then we read about Perseus and Medusa and Andromeda and the rest in D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. E did 3 more pages of grammar, and I showed her some neat pictures of Saturn and Titan from the Cassini mission. Then we cleaned house and put together costumes! Oh, and of course, we watched Peep.

46

E did a lot of reading on her own today--a couple of chapter books, Volcanoes by Franklyn M. Branley, and Fossils Tell of Long Ago by Aliki. I read One Grain of Rice by Demi, and then she narrated another Heraclean task, the Stymphalian Birds, from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children. From the same book, we read some more of Odysseus' adventures: Circe, the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Helios' cattle, and Calypso. (Incidentally, one of our pumpkins this year is a Cyclops--E's choice) In the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, we read about Europa and Cadmus, & Tantalus and Pelops. Then I read Saturn by Larry Dane Brimner, which she chose because "It's the prettiest planet". She did 4 pages in her grammar book, and 1 1/2 lessons in her math, then on her own she went ahead and did the review! T played with the animal tangrams, and watched Peep, although for once he didn't want to watch it more than three times. The part where Chirp is encased in dry mud scared him, even when he knew what was going to happen next. They had Dance and Tumbling today too, and I started cleaning house for the Halloween party (I got my room dusted--at this rate, we'd better have the party after New Years)

45

Read 2 x 2 = Boo! by Loreen Leedy, and The Warlord's Beads by Virginia Walton Pilegard--I'm trying to read her fun math books since she told me math is boring... Then All Kinds of Feet by Ron and Nancy Goor, which was more informative and interesting than I thought it would be. E narrated another labor of Heracles from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children: the Augean Stables--the best one yet. And I read from the same book about Odysseus and the Trojan Horse, the Cyclops, and the bag of winds. In the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths we read about the centaurs, and Chiron, and his best pupil, Asclepius, then an introduction to the nine muses and the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. E answered some questions about the moon that I wrote in her notebook, and did her math while T watched Peep. During lunch I read "East of the Sun, West of the Moon" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book.

44

Today we tried a workshop at the Botanical Gardens, studying the life cycle of the mealworm and other insects. It was a bit of a bust for 3 reasons: 1) it was bloody cold out there, and of course E, convinced that she is always too hot (though she hasn't an ounce of body fat anywhere) dressed inappropriately; 2) she wasn't all that interested in the life cycle of the meal worm (can you imagine?) and 3) it was kind of worksheety. But it was free so at least it had that going for it.

When we got home we watched a fascinating Discovery channel program called If We Had No Moon. Apparently, without the moon, Earth would be pretty much uninhabitable, by our kind of creature, anyhow. Also, the program featured several kick-a** women scientists, so I give it several thumbs up! Then when Alan came home, they built a set of panpipes (instructions here), though Alan's the only one who can really play them well, and we listened to some ancient Greek music at this cool site.

43

I didn't expect to have much to report today. We began with E's piano lesson--she played very well and her teacher gave her some challenging sheet music to start learning--which as I told her is a real compliment from a teacher, when they want to challenge you, it means they think you're good enough to need a challenge. Then, as promised last week, we went to the McWane Science Center for a few hours. I tend to think of the place as more fun than science, but I'm sure they do pick up some bits of education here and there, and who said fun was bad anyway? They do have some good resources for later when we are studying magnetism and electricity, and I plan on attending their volcano show next month when we're doing Rome (and Pompeii). So we got home around 1:30, tired and a little cranky (or maybe that was just me) and I told them we didn't have to do any more school today and sat down to read the paper. A few minutes go by, and lo and behold, they come and actually ask to do school! Well, that made me very happy! So E narrated another Heraclean task: "The Huge Wild Boar" from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children. Frankly, I had thought these tasks would have more magic to them, but they seem mostly to be about strength, and to a lesser extent, some craftiness. Anyway, then I read the story of Helios and Phaethon from the Amery book (we read it in the D'Aulaires' book yesterday) and we found out that when the chariot went too high, it scarred the heavens and made the Milky Way, and when it went too low is how deserts were created. Which is why I love reading the same stories in both books--each book has something to offer that the other one doesn't have. Then we read about Pan and the nymphs and river gods, Echo and Narcissus, and Syrinx and the first panpipes, and Daphne and Apollo from the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I read What the Moon is Like by Franklyn M. Branley, and E did her math while T watched Peep. Then E did two pages of the grammar workbook, and I gave her a choice: free time, work on weaving her mat (started yesterday) or a GeeArt lesson. I really expected her to choose GeeArt, or, if she was tired, free time, but to my surprise she chose to weave. Kids always find ways to confound our expectations.

42

Began today reading Feel the Wind by Arthur Dorros, then E narrated another of Heracles' tasks, the Golden-Antlered stag, and we read more from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children, Bellerophon and Pegasus, King Midas, and the adventures of Perseus (which was cool because she was just asking about Medusa yesterday). Then in the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, we read about Eos and Tithonus, who got eternal life without eternal youth and turned into a grasshopper, Helios and Phaethon, Selene and sleeping Endymion. She wrote in her notebook, answering 9 questions I posed about Mars, and did her math and watched Peep with T. She also started weaving a round mat, an activity from Laurie Carlson's Classical Kids, and we got in the mail a Magnetic Mosaics kit, so she and T played with that as well. T is getting great at puzzles, even jigsaws, and he also played with Play Doh and the Lego Simple Machines set. E also finished her Draw Write Now page. And tonight Alan finished reading The Amazing Adventures of Ulysses by Vivian Webb and Heather Amery to her.

41

Narration today was another one of Heracles' tasks, the 9-headed Hydra, from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children. Then, as the end of our Greek unit beckons in a couple of weeks, I read ahead in that book, the stories of Echo and Narcissus, and Daedalus and Icarus. Then from the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths, we read about Dionysus, and the Fates, and again the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus and Pandora, and then the myth about Deucalion and the flood, which I was unfamiliar with. Very interesting, all these cultures thereabouts have legends of a great flood--it must have been a doozy, indeed. And finally we read about Aeolus and the four winds. Then I read You Wouldn't Want to Be a Greek Athlete! by Michael Ford, and we had recess, math, two grammar pages (verbs) and Peep. Then E went down to start a new Draw Write Now and after lunch we read Mars by Larry Dane Brimner, and E made two little moons with labels to put on our solar system wall. Then we went to their Dance/Tumbling classes.

40

I was all freaked out about the Greek thing--how are we going to get it all done and so forth. I mean, don't get me wrong, we're not on a strict schedule or anything, and I have some extra padding built in to what schedule we do have, but I want to get to Rome before the Pompeii exhibit comes to town and there are just SO MANY Greeks with SO MANY achievements. Then it hit me this morning, like a stack of bricks. She's in first grade. She really doesn't have to know Empedocles from Erastothenes ('cuz you know I do, uh huh...)--she's going to be studying Greece in more depth later anyway. I mean really, she doesn't have to learn anything about Greece at all--though we're having fun doing it. DUH!! So I stopped flipping out and relaxed this morning. We're learning the Greek Myths--that's important since so much of Western Culture is built on them. We're getting an introduction to their way of life and an understanding that they more or less invented or improved on important stuff like democracy and scientific reasoning and mathematics. And we're hearing some of the great stories from the Trojan, Peloponesian, and Persian wars. And that's more than plenty.

So we had narration today on the first of Heracles' tasks--defeating the lion (from Amery's Greek Myths for Young Children) and we read about Hermes and (again) Demeter and Persephone in the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths. I read An Octopus is Amazing by Patricia Lauber, and we read around in Technology in the Time of Ancient Greece by Judith Crosher. She did math (division!) while T watched Peep and they both watched Peep together while I made lunch. While they were eating I read the story of "Prince Hyacinth and the Dear Little Princess" from Lang's Blue Fairy Book, and then we read The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System by Joanna Cole. We went online and looked at National Geographic's virtual solar system, and watched an animation that demonstrates the immense distance between the planets. We made a model of the solar system on the wall in our hallway: Last night I took this coloring page, and blew up (or reduced, as necessary) the planets to be in a rough scale with one another, using this site to figure out how big each should be. Then today I made a part of a big sun with some large paper Alan brought home from work, and T and I colored the sun (it has some very unusual sunspots) while E colored the planets. She cut them out while T and I put the sun up on my bedroom door, and then we used the measurements from the "Planetary Distance Activity" in the back of The Planets in Our Solar System by Franklyn M. Branley to place the planets along the wall. So they are in rough scale with each other, and in rough scale for distance, but the distance and the size are not correspondent. I would either have to have had Mercury smaller than a pinhead (hard to color!) or a hallway bigger than a football field (I wish). Then E made labels for the planets and put them up too, using the True Books planets series from the library for spelling (she used the pictures on the covers as models for her coloring, too). Unfortunately for her, I didn't get an earth book and I refused to tell her how to spell it. Oh my, what a tantrum we had! For someone who's so bright, she certainly does have her stupid moments. Finally I had to point out to her that we had read TWO books on the solar system today, and they were at my feet, and I was sure that the word EARTH had to be in there SOMEWHERE. I wish she weren't so obsessed with spelling. I've told her again and again that I couldn't care less if she spells things right or not, as long as she writes, to no avail.

They're really pleased with the model, and E wants to add all the moons and asteroids and comets, and...oh my. Well, I told her we could add moons as we study each individual planet, but we're done with school for today so shoo! I have cleaning to do--and then some.

38

We don't usually end up doing much "school" on Wednesdays, because after piano in the morning, we usually go to the library, and then it's the afternoon and somehow my "teaching brain" doesn't work too well in the afternoon. But today we came straight home after piano, because mom and dad are taking E to her habitat class at the zoo so I can get my hair cut, and I needed to get everything together for them. So we did a narration on the birth of Heracles up to his being told to go be a slave to Eurystheus, from Amery's _Greek Myths for Young Children_, then I read from the D'Aulaires' _Book of Greek Myths_, about Artemis and Actaeon, and Orion. I read To Root, to Toot, to Parachute: What is a Verb? by Brian P. Cleary, and had E do 4 pages on verbs in her grammar workbook, while T watched Peep. Now we have had lunch and are relaxing until Grandma and Grandpa come, and E will go to her Habitats class at the zoo.

37

for narration we had the story of Arachne from Amery's _Greek Myths for Young Children_, then I read some more chapters out of the D'Aulaire's Greek Myths book--Poseidon and the births of Artemis and Apollo. Then we read Shooting Stars and The Moon Seems to Change both by Franklyn M. Branley. We went online and watched an animation of the moon phases changing as the moon orbits the earth, an animation of a lunar eclipse, and an animation demonstrating the impact theory of the moon's formation. I gave her a page of pictures of the moon's phases (from this site) and we looked up what the moon looked like on her birthday and on T's. Then I let them watch Peep and wonder of wonders, it was about how the moon seems to change in the sky! My homeschooling luck is so good this week! I wish it would work on the lottery...Anyway, after lunch E did her math review--she does well but doesn't pay enough attention to which operation the problem is presenting--if the first one in a series is addition, she adds them all, even the subtraction problems. And I'm not sure but what she might need some more regrouping practice--we'll see if the book presents any more of that or not. We finished making the paper models of the Platonic bodies (well, I put together the dodecahedron and the icosahedron--but she did the pyramid, cube, and octahedron all by herself). Now she is finishing her homework from the Habitat class at the zoo, and then I think I might have her work on her first Gee Art lesson.

36

Today went a lot better than it should have, given that I stayed up till 2 with a book (Emma Bull's Territory) and then had allergy issues the rest of the night. And I did wake up cranky and tired. However, chocolate pancakes with fruit syrup cheered everyone up, myself included. And the kids were so enthusiastic about their new chore rotations (hey, I don't get it either...) that it was hard to stay grumpy. E, in her new guise as "Laundry Helper" gathered all the sheets and towels for me and put the new towels out. T, as "Dog Feeder" was so proud to show me how he could go up and down the stairs carrying Sheila's dish. I'm enjoying the bliss now, because of course by Wednesday these chores will have lost their glow, I'm sure. We started about a half hour late, but we pretty much made up for lost time. We started out reading Maisy's Morning on the Farm by Lucy Cousins at T's request. Then I read Ducks Don't Get Wet by Augusta Goldin because it was one of the free science books we got yesterday and Quack the Duck is T's favorite character on Peep. Narration was the story of Demeter and Persephone from Amery's _Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children, which was really neat because we just recently read Gail Gibbons' _The Reasons for Seasons_ (I didn't plan it, I swear--just dumb luck). Then I read some more chapters from _D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths for Children_, about Aphrodite, and Ares, and Athena (including the story of Arachne, which tied in nicely with the spiders we've been observing and reading about--luck luck luck). Then we talked about how the Ancient Greeks were some of the first people to really scientifically study the world around them, and I read How We Learned the Earth is Round by Patricia Lauber, and then some pertinent sections from Laurie Carlson's Classical Kids. We looked at the Greek alphabet, and triangular numbers, and magic squares (which she's already encountered in Singapore math) and then we tried the Sieve of Eratosthenes (all this is from _Classical Kids_) and then we took a break, during which they got out the play doh and (I am not making this up) rolled it out and started inscribing the Greek alphabet on it as though it were a clay tablet (which I guess actually it is). This was so great for me--at last, my kids did one of those brainy things homeschooled kids do! I'm in the club! I'm in the club! All right, just kidding, though I was really pleased. After break we started making paper models of the 5 Platonic bodies from patterns in Carlson's book (and T just cut and pasted his little heart out). She got through the pyramid and the cube. We'll do more tomorrow, because then it was time for lunch. She worked on her math review after lunch until it was time for Dance and Tumbling, and then finished the math when we got home. A busy but satisfying day, especially since I thought when I woke up it was going to be a total wash.

34

Today I just did NOT want to do school. But yesterday was pretty much a wash, so I had to. I couldn't do many things I had wanted to because I hadn't done any prep work last night (teach me to be lazy) so today was mostly just me reading and some worksheet stuff. Narration today was "Pandora's Box" from Heather Amery's _Usborne Greek Myths for Young Children_ and then we read a few chapters from the D'Aulaires' Greek Myths book. Then I read Sightseers Ancient Greece by Julie Ferris. There are some intelligent quiz questions at the end and E did pretty well, only missing a few. She did her math review and watched Peep with T. After she corrected the problems she missed, I read Too Many Kangaroo Things to Do! a MathStart book by Stuart J. Murphy, and two books about nouns by Brian P. Cleary: A Mink, a Fink, a Skating Rink: What is a Noun? and A Lime, a Mime, a Pool of Slime: More About Nouns and then she did the last page of her noun worksheets. I read The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons and now E is working on a Draw Write Now page.

32

A pretty great day today! For narration I read the myth of Prometheus from Usborne's Greek Myths for Young Children. She seems to be having some trouble with these longer pieces, so I asked her how she was listening. She was trying to memorize them! So I suggested she try to picture the events in her head while she listens, and then play the movie back as she narrates. We'll see if that helps tomorrow. Anyway, then I read Growing Up in Ancient Greece by Chris Chelepi, and a few pages of DAulaires' Book of Greek Myths, and we had a break. When we came back, I read Richard Harris' I Can Read About the Sun and Other Stars, and had her do a little worksheet they gave us at the planetarium-- the configuration of the stars of Casseopeia (a big W) repeated four times and the child was to make different pictures out of it and label them (basically making their own constellations). She made a W, a robin, a moth, and my personal favorite, a flying pig. I downloaded this cool free planetarium program, Stellarium, last night and we used it to look at the constellations. You can look at them just as stars, as stars with connecting lines, or as artistic pictures laid over the stars. We looked up a lot of the constellations we saw at the planetarium yesterday. Then I went here and let her mouse through a thoroughly cool introduction to finding Orion, Betelgeuse, Jupiter, Casseopeia, the Big Dipper, and Polaris. She did so well at finding the constellations! Sometimes even I couldn't find them till she pointed them out. And then I let her and T go in the closet with a flashlight and The Glow-In-The-Dark Night Sky Book by Clint Hatchett. Then after lunch she did her math while T watched Peep, and she watched Peep when she was done. Grandma and Grandpa came over and helped us decorate the front of the house for Halloween, which made her very happy, and then after they left she did four pages of nouns. I found these cool Constellation Detective worksheets which I forgot to give her--I'll probably just give them to her to do on her own when she feels like it.